A trailer went by observation, but the drive was so far away the observer was afraid that if she focused on the trailer as it went by, she would not be able to find the horses in the distance again. These wild horses in this picture sat on that trailer over an hour at trap before being taken from the range.

Day 6 is hard to edit as a visual representation. First due to the extreme distance. Second due to the agonizing length of time of each event.

Day 6 was a day wild horses paid the price over and over again for a really bad trap. The wings were not funneled but remained absurdly wide and offered no actual guidance into the trap.

The length of these videos are considerably longer that most videos we normally publish. We do not expect you to watch them all. But (while we have internet service that can handle them) the length is needed to illustrate time. Each video is edited down and is a fraction of the length of time of each event. 

It is hard to estimate the number of adult wild horses captured by the helicopter. At least 4 were roped. The majority of these horses were run over and over and had countless attempts at the trap mouth, far more than the CAWP used to permit before BLM weakened welfare recommendations in June.

Above: The first run happened before observers got onsite. This is the second run. The “black” that breaks through the jute goes on to thwart the helicopter chasing the small band (it looks like one horse goes back through the jute and is captured).

Below: The black pays a heavy price. He is targeted as a solo and ropers immediately go out. His legs are tied and he is left there as his bandmates are driven back and forth nearly over him.

For 34 minutes he stays on the ground as the helicopter continues to have issues at the trap, at least one other horse is roped off camera. Then yet more horses continue to be brought in, at least 2 more runs and additional roping. Note: Roping must be approved BLM BLM COR and IC. IC stands for Incident Commander, the person in charge. It is misspoken in the video by a new observer. but BLM knew what we meant.

This is the second time a horses legs were tied at this operation while the horse was on the ground. This is NOT something we see (in over twenty years of documenting). There must be someone new that thinks this is “ok” or a very old practice they have brought back.

Remember, this video is edited for time.

Above: When wranglers do reenter the frame (after our brand new observer kept pushing, upset) they do not get him up and lead him. They hobble him and tie him. Another ten minutes go by, as another band is driven by the helicopter near him, and then the trailer shows up. It appears they run a rope through the side of the trailer and pull him in.

This wild horse is a clear candidate for death via Capture Myopathy either overnight or within the next few weeks.

Below: The BLM representative actually tries to say that “they give the horse a choice to cooperate.” That if a horse does not make the “choice” to cooperate then they have to use means that might seem unpleasant. In part of the clip we did not include, he actually likens some people finding this unpleasant to a generational disagreement over the safety of high school sleep overs. For those of you that have never been to a roundup you have to listen to this kind of thing a lot and try to stay at least semi-pleasant.

All of these wild horses paid the price for a really bad trap and decision-making that was hyper focused on removal, not welfare.

Above: The day wasn’t over. Incredibly aggressive flying. Attempts at roping that failed. Multiple successful ropings. And then the last horse, another one roped.

After this event our observer was basically told to pack it up. She would not be allowed to stay there as horses were trailered past her.

All of these horses paid the price for a really bad trap.

Yesterday onsite there was our observer and a filmmaker onsite.

We have been informed that operations will move north into Dugway and no observation will be permitted when they get there due to the military zone. Dugway has a transfer with Onaqui wild horses. Observation at temporary corrals will not be permitted. Captives will be taken to the off-limits to the public facility in Sutherland.

You can see running daily reporting HERE from Swasey.

If you would like to take action to help protect wild horses and burros you can take the following 2 actions today:

The Department of Interior is in the process of rewriting regulations to guide BLM management of wild horses and burros on public lands. We are asking for a public, transparent, Oversight hearing from Congress before any changes to regulations are finalized. Learn more and take action HERE. 

A massive $30 million influx of funding is coming to BLM from the USDA (that oddly never has enough money to fund their own USFS wild horse program). There is not one single guardrail against how that funding is going to be used for “getting to AML and staying there.” Plans are already being finalized to sterilize wild horse herds, even where AML is below genetic viability. Learn more and take action HERE. 

Our team is working hard. 

We will update you as time allows.

We need your support to keep our teams engaging lawmakers, our team fighting in the court, our team running in the field covering the roundup schedule.